Eligibility and authorized use

CampusGrader is intended for prospective college students, current students, former students, alumni, families, educators and adults researching higher education.

You must be legally capable of agreeing to these Terms. CampusGrader is not directed to children under 13.

You may use CampusGrader only for lawful personal, educational, editorial or other authorized purposes consistent with these Terms.

Purpose and independence of CampusGrader

CampusGrader provides student-centered college reviews, ratings, category scores, CampusGrader letter grades, college information, comparisons, rankings and related educational resources.

Unless expressly stated, CampusGrader is not affiliated with, sponsored by, endorsed by or operated by any college, university, accreditor, government agency or admissions office listed on the website.

College-review submissions

CampusGrader accepts reviews intended to describe genuine college experiences. When submitting a review, you represent and confirm that:

• The review reflects your genuine firsthand experience or a truthful experience you are legally authorized to describe.
• Your ratings, statements, reviewer role and other material details are accurate to the best of your knowledge.
• You are not impersonating another student, alumnus, employee, representative, organization or person.
• You have disclosed any employment, family, financial, promotional, leadership, donor, athletic or other relationship that could reasonably affect your review.
• You have the right to submit the content and material included in the submission.
• The submission does not violate another person’s privacy, confidentiality, copyright, trademark or other legal rights.
• You have not received payment, a gift, preferential treatment or another undisclosed benefit conditioned on submitting a positive or negative review.
• You are not participating in an organized effort intended to artificially raise or lower a college’s ratings, grade, ranking or approved review count.

Agreement to CampusGrader rules

Reviewers must affirmatively agree to these Terms of Use, the Review Guidelines and the Privacy Policy before submitting a review.

Consent to publication

Consent to publication is separate from acceptance of the platform rules. Reviewers must actively authorize CampusGrader to display an approved review and eligible reviewer-profile details.

Submission and consent do not guarantee publication. CampusGrader may approve, reject, delay, investigate, edit within the limits described in these Terms, unpublish or remove a submission.

Ownership and license for submitted content

You retain any ownership rights you may have in original content that you submit.

By submitting content, you grant Grader LLC a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, format, moderate, publish, display, distribute and excerpt the content as reasonably necessary to operate, protect, explain and promote CampusGrader.

This license permits CampusGrader to display approved review content on college profiles, comparison pages, rankings, review summaries, CampusGrader social channels and other features directly supporting the platform.

CampusGrader will not sell an individual reviewer’s written review as standalone content or license it for unrelated third-party advertising without additional permission from the reviewer.

CampusGrader may correct spelling, punctuation, spacing, formatting and obvious typographical errors. CampusGrader may also remove unnecessary personal information, confidential information or content creating a privacy or safety concern.

CampusGrader will not materially reverse or rewrite a reviewer’s substantive opinion. When meaningful clarification or a substantive revision is required, CampusGrader may contact the reviewer, reject the submission or treat the revision as a new editorial version.

Moderation and publication decisions

All review submissions may be evaluated before publication. CampusGrader may approve, reject, edit, delay, investigate, limit, unpublish or remove content in its reasonable discretion.

Moderation may address:

• Authenticity and firsthand experience.
• Spam, duplication and automated submissions.
• Personal attacks, harassment, threats or discriminatory abuse.
• Private or identifying information about another person.
• Unsupported allegations of criminal or professional misconduct.
• Confidential educational, medical or employment information.
• Conflicts of interest and undisclosed relationships.
• Review manipulation and coordinated campaigns.
• Copyright, trademark and other legal concerns.
• Compliance with these Terms and the Review Guidelines.

CampusGrader is not obligated to publish every submission, provide a detailed explanation for every moderation decision or preserve submitted content indefinitely.

Reviewer correction and removal requests

A reviewer may request correction or removal of a review associated with an email address that CampusGrader can reasonably verify belongs to that reviewer.

CampusGrader may request verification before changing or removing a review. A request from someone who cannot reasonably establish a connection to the submission may be denied to protect privacy and platform integrity.

When an approved review is removed, the college’s public star rating, letter grade, category scores, approved review count, comparison results and ranking may be recalculated.

CampusGrader may retain limited internal records when reasonably necessary for moderation history, fraud prevention, legal compliance, dispute resolution, security and protection against repeat manipulation.

Removal from public display does not necessarily require immediate deletion from backups or records CampusGrader is legally permitted or required to retain.

Reviews involving identifiable individuals

Reviews should focus primarily on the college experience, institutional policies, departments, services and campus conditions rather than targeting individual students, faculty members, employees or contractors.

CampusGrader may remove names, job titles, classroom details or other information identifying a private individual, especially when a submission contains allegations CampusGrader cannot reasonably verify.

Reviewers may describe relevant institutional experiences without publishing unnecessary private information or making knowingly false statements about another person.

Threats of immediate harm, crimes in progress or urgent campus safety concerns should be reported to emergency services, law enforcement or the appropriate campus authority.

Ratings, grades, comparisons and rankings

CampusGrader calculates public results using approved review data and the methodology described on the How Grades Work page.

Only approved reviews may affect:

• Public star ratings.
• CampusGrader letter grades.
• Category scores.
• Approved review counts.
• College comparisons.
• College rankings.

Pending, rejected, removed and otherwise unapproved reviews do not count toward public results.

A college must have at least three approved reviews before receiving a numbered CampusGrader ranking.

Ratings, grades, comparisons and rankings may change when reviews are approved, removed, corrected or recalculated, or when CampusGrader updates its published methodology.

Prohibited conduct

You may not use CampusGrader to:

• Submit a fabricated or materially misleading review.
• Submit a review for a college you did not genuinely experience.
• Use artificial intelligence or another tool to invent a personal experience.
• Purchase, sell, exchange, trade or broker reviews or ratings.
• Condition rewards or benefits on positive or negative review sentiment.
• Submit multiple reviews to manipulate a college’s public results.
• Coordinate a campaign intended to artificially raise or lower results.
• Submit content through a false identity or impersonated account.
• Conceal a material employment, family, financial or insider relationship.
• Threaten retaliation to force removal of a truthful negative review.
• Threaten, harass, stalk, intimidate or target another person.
• Publish private addresses, phone numbers, records or identifying details.
• Make knowingly false factual statements about another person.
• Upload malware, malicious code or harmful files.
• Attempt to bypass moderation, security or anti-spam controls.
• Repeatedly evade moderation through new identities, emails or devices.
• Scrape or extract information through unauthorized automated means.
• Interfere with website performance, availability or integrity.
• Reverse engineer or exploit nonpublic systems.
• Use CampusGrader content to train a commercial dataset without permission.
• Misrepresent a CampusGrader result as an official government or accreditation decision.
• Violate applicable law or another person’s rights.

CampusGrader may restrict or permanently block individuals, organizations, accounts, devices, networks or submission patterns associated with repeated fraud, harassment, manipulation, moderation evasion, intellectual-property violations or security attacks.

User accounts and protected features

If CampusGrader introduces reviewer accounts, ambassador dashboards or other password-protected features, users are responsible for protecting their login credentials and activity conducted through their accounts.

Users may not share credentials, access another person’s account without authorization, create accounts through false identities or attempt to access restricted administrative systems.

CampusGrader may require account verification, password resets or additional security measures and may suspend accounts associated with suspicious, unauthorized or prohibited activity.

Account deletion does not automatically require deletion of approved public reviews or limited internal records when retention is permitted under these Terms and the Privacy Policy.

College representatives and institutional requests

Colleges and authorized representatives may submit factual corrections, privacy concerns, trademark concerns or reports of content that may violate these Terms.

Institutional disagreement with a reviewer’s genuine opinion does not, by itself, establish that the review is false or prohibited.

Colleges may not purchase:

• Removal of truthful negative reviews.
• Suppression of unfavorable student opinions.
• Improved ratings or letter grades.
• Preferential rankings.
• Additional approved review counts.
• Control over moderation outcomes.

Sponsored content, partnerships or advertising, if introduced, must remain separate from independent CampusGrader ratings and moderation.

College information and factual accuracy

CampusGrader may compile information from college websites, government sources, public databases and other sources believed to be useful.

College data can change. Tuition, enrollment, admissions requirements, programs, housing, policies, accreditation, campus services and other facts should be confirmed directly with the institution or relevant official source.

CampusGrader does not guarantee that every college profile or factual statement is complete, current or error-free.

Factual corrections may be submitted through the Contact page. Include the college name, page URL, disputed information and a reliable supporting source.

CampusGrader intellectual property

CampusGrader’s branding, logos, grading presentation, original copy, page designs, software, databases, graphics and other original materials are owned by or licensed to Grader LLC.

Publicly available content may be viewed and used for personal, noncommercial research.

Without written permission, you may not:

• Copy or republish substantial portions of the website.
• Reproduce CampusGrader databases or rankings commercially.
• Use CampusGrader branding in a way suggesting endorsement.
• Create a confusingly similar site, service or grading system.
• Sell or commercially license CampusGrader content.
• Remove copyright, trademark or attribution notices.

College names, logos and marks belong to their respective owners. References to a college do not imply endorsement or affiliation.

Copyright and intellectual-property complaints

A copyright owner or authorized representative may report material believed to infringe copyright or another intellectual-property right through the CampusGrader Contact page.

A complete report should include:

• Identification of the copyrighted work or protected right.
• The exact CampusGrader URL containing the disputed material.
• A description sufficient to locate the material.
• The reporting party’s name and reliable contact information.
• A statement of good-faith belief that the use is unauthorized.
• A statement that the information supplied is accurate.
• Confirmation of ownership or authority to act for the owner.
• A physical or electronic signature.

CampusGrader may remove, restrict or preserve disputed material while reviewing a complaint and may request additional information.

A person whose content was removed may contact CampusGrader with an explanation, supporting information and request for reconsideration.

CampusGrader may restrict or terminate users who repeatedly infringe intellectual-property rights or submit knowingly false complaints.

Knowingly making a material misrepresentation in a complaint or response may create legal liability.

Third-party websites and services

CampusGrader may link to college websites, government resources, maps, videos, social platforms, advertisers or other third parties.

Third-party services are governed by their own terms, privacy policies and business practices. CampusGrader does not control and is not responsible for external content, security, availability or transactions.

A link does not necessarily mean CampusGrader endorses the third party or guarantees its information.

Disclaimers

To the fullest extent permitted by law, CampusGrader and its content, reviews, ratings, grades, rankings, comparisons and services are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis.

Grader LLC disclaims warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, noninfringement, accuracy, availability and uninterrupted or error-free operation to the extent such warranties may legally be disclaimed.

CampusGrader does not guarantee:

• That every review is accurate or representative of every student.
• That a college will meet a particular person’s expectations.
• Admission, graduation, employment, financial or academic outcomes.
• That website access will always be uninterrupted or secure.
• That every error will be corrected immediately.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Grader LLC and its owners, officers, employees, contractors, affiliates and service providers will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages arising from or related to CampusGrader.

This includes loss resulting from reliance on reviews, ratings, grades, rankings, comparisons, third-party links, website interruptions, unauthorized access or content submitted by another user.

Where liability cannot legally be excluded, Grader LLC’s aggregate liability arising from CampusGrader will be limited to the greater of the amount paid directly to Grader LLC for the relevant service during the twelve months preceding the claim or one hundred U.S. dollars.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain exclusions or limitations, so portions of this section may not apply to every user.

Indemnification

To the extent permitted by law, you agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Grader LLC and its owners, officers, employees, contractors and affiliates from claims, losses, liabilities, damages and reasonable expenses arising from:

• Your submitted content.
• Your violation of these Terms.
• Your violation of another person’s rights.
• Your unlawful or unauthorized use of CampusGrader.
• Your material misrepresentation concerning a review.

Grader LLC may control the defense of a matter subject to indemnification, and you agree to provide reasonable cooperation.

Suspension, restriction and termination

CampusGrader may restrict access, block submissions, remove content, suspend an account or take other protective measures when it reasonably believes a person has:

• Violated these Terms or the Review Guidelines.
• Submitted fraudulent or manipulated reviews.
• Attempted to compromise website security.
• Harassed, threatened or targeted another person.
• Created legal, privacy, safety or integrity risks.
• Used CampusGrader in a way likely to harm the platform or users.

Provisions that logically should continue after termination—including content licenses, intellectual-property provisions, disclaimers, liability limitations, indemnification and dispute provisions—will survive termination.

Informal resolution, governing law and disputes

Before filing a formal claim, you agree to contact CampusGrader and provide a reasonable opportunity to understand and attempt to resolve the matter informally.

These Terms and disputes arising from CampusGrader are governed by the laws of the State of New Jersey and applicable federal law, without regard to conflict-of-law principles.

To the extent permitted by law, a legal proceeding that is not required to be brought elsewhere must be filed in a state or federal court with jurisdiction in New Jersey.

Nothing in these Terms eliminates a nonwaivable consumer right, remedy, jurisdiction or forum available under applicable law.

CampusGrader does not require mandatory arbitration, a class-action waiver or a jury-trial waiver under these Terms.

Changes to CampusGrader and these Terms

CampusGrader may modify, suspend, remove or add website features, policies, review categories, methodologies or services.

These Terms may be updated when the platform, business practices, legal requirements or review system changes.

Updated Terms will be posted on this page with a revised date. Material changes may receive additional notice when appropriate or legally required.

Continued use after updated Terms take effect means the revised Terms apply to future use, except where additional consent is legally required.

Severability

If a provision is found unenforceable, it will be limited or modified only to the extent necessary, and the remaining provisions will continue in effect.

No waiver

Failure to enforce a provision does not waive the right to enforce it later.

Assignment

You may not transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms without written permission. Grader LLC may assign these Terms as part of a merger, reorganization, financing, asset transfer or similar business transaction.

Entire agreement

These Terms, the Privacy Policy, the Review Guidelines and any feature-specific terms presented to you form the agreement concerning use of CampusGrader.